It was quite a while since we were in NJ so we were really excited to be back. And one of the highlights of the show was that we got to play with The Benjamins, a kick-ass cover/original band who just released their debut CD. They alwayz draw well so we knew it’d be a great night – and we weren’t disappointed.

The room was filled and there were plenty of very attractive girls in attendance. I alwayz try to make direct eye contact with the audience and tonight was no different. However, two pretty girls off to the side caught my attention. They were obviously there for the other band, but it didn’t take long for them groovin' to the music and eying me back - score one for Paulie! We won over a quite a few new fanz, but more interesting was that we also won over the sound guy. He started the night complaining and bitching about everything and just seemed to be a bitter person in general. Happily, after about three songs, we had him clapping along and smiling like there was no where on earth he’d rather be - score one for ZO2!

I’d say Murphy’s Third Rail was a very good place for ZO2!

Man, do I love playing Ohio. It’s still amazing to us that over 8 hours away from our neighborhood we have such a great fan base. It’s that kind of response that makes the seemingly endless travel so worthwhile and so fulfilling. When we repeatedly play an area and watch the count go from 10 people in the audience to 50 people to 100 people and so on, we actually get to experience our growth as a band. That’s why I’ve always said that I never wanted to be a band with an overnight success story. I don’t think you can really appreciate your position unless you have something to compare it to. Overnight success seems like more of a happy accident than an accomplishment. I want our success to be because we worked our asses off for it and earned it.

We saw many familiar faces that we have seen at previous shows in Ohio. But this time, those people brought their friends to the show. There’s nothing like popping someone’s ZO2 cherry for the first time (especially when she’s cute). And, we were in a new club. It had a great rock vibe to it and the promoter couldn’t have been cooler. The only thing that I could say that went wrong with the night was that we completely forgot to unveil the ZO2 banner. There we were, sweating up a storm and rockin’ out not realizing we had never pulled the big black sheet off from in front of our banner Happily, we had so many friends there, we know they made sure to spread the word and tell everyone who we are.

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